154 for 9 to Immortality: Shadab Khan's Unbeaten 113 and the Last-Wicket Miracle That Stunned England

LAHORE — When Haris Rauf walked out to bat at No. 11, Pakistan were 154 for nine, still needing 88 runs to beat England, and the game looked finished. The fielders were already celebrating in their minds, and most of the crowd at Gaddafi Stadium had begun to accept defeat. What followed over the next 80 balls was one of the greatest escapes in one-day international history.

Nine Down and All But Beaten

England had been bowled out for 241 in 46.4 overs, despite a composed 105 from Ben Duckett. Shaheen Shah Afridi led Pakistan's bowling with four wickets for 46 runs, dismantling England's top order and leaving the chase at a modest 242. On a slow Lahore pitch, it should have been a comfortable pursuit.

England's innings had promised more. After Shaheen struck in the opening over to remove Tom Banton and dismissed Joe Root in the third, and Jordan Cox fell to Rauf, England were reeling at 52 for four. Duckett and Sam Curran steadied them with a 93-run fifth-wicket stand, Curran making 42, and Gus Atkinson's unbeaten 36 carried them past 200. But 241 was never going to feel safe once Shadab began his assault.

Instead, Pakistan's chase fell apart. Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam both fell for 10, Saim Ayub went cheaply, and the hosts slid to 103 for six when Shadab Khan walked in at No. 8. Salman Ali Agha made 26 and Saad Baig struck a brisk 32 off 22 balls, but the wickets kept falling. By the time Razaullah was bowled for eight, Pakistan were 154 for nine in the 34th over of the ODI tri-series clash, and England needed just one more wicket.

Shadab's Counterattack

Shadab refused to accept the script. He had been 32 off 35 balls when Rauf joined him, and from that moment he took complete control of the chase. He found the boundary in almost every over, farmed the strike to shield Rauf from England's quicks, and slowly dragged the target down while the crowd rediscovered its voice.

Rauf played his part with courage. He defended when he had to, ducked and weaved when England threw everything at him, and refused to give his wicket away. All five of Shadab's sixes and nine of his 13 fours came after Pakistan were nine wickets down, a measure of how completely the all-rounder owned the closing stages of the match.

For Shadab, the innings ended a long wait. He had five ODI half-centuries to his name but had never reached three figures in the format, and as the required runs shrank from 88 to a handful, the crowd rose with every boundary. The equation never looked easy — 88 off 80 balls with one wicket in hand — but Shadab batted as if the pressure belonged to England.

The LBW That Wasn't — and the Record That Fell

The drama peaked with Shadab on 97 and Pakistan still needing 21 runs. Gus Atkinson trapped him in front, the finger went up, and England's players began shaking hands as the last pair started to walk off. Shadab reviewed, and replays showed a faint inside edge. The decision was overturned, the innings was alive again, and Shadab went on to complete his maiden ODI century.

He finished unbeaten on 113 off 96 balls, with 13 fours and five sixes, and was named player of the match. Rauf, unbeaten on seven off 19 balls, struck the winning boundary, and Pakistan reached 243 for nine in 47.1 overs to win by one wicket with 17 balls to spare. It was only Pakistan's ninth one-wicket victory in ODI history.

Their unbeaten 89-run stand off 80 balls is now the highest tenth-wicket partnership in a successful ODI run chase, breaking a 51-year-old record held by Deryck Murray and Andy Roberts, whose unbeaten 64 for the West Indies against Pakistan at the 1975 World Cup had stood since before either Shadab or Rauf was born.

A Final Awaits

The win was Pakistan's third in a row in the tri-series, which also features Sri Lanka, and it booked their place in the final in Lahore on October 31. England, meanwhile, have now lost all three of their matches and sit at the bottom of the table, their campaign in serious trouble after a week that also saw Sri Lanka complete the second-highest successful chase in ODI history against them. Live coverage of the final will come from Lahore.

Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi said afterwards that he had never seen anything like the finishing stand, while England captain Harry Brook refused to blame his bowlers, saying they had done an exceptional job but had not put quite enough runs on the board. Brook's assessment will sting all the more because, for most of Sunday evening, his side had the game won. Then the last wicket refused to fall, and Shadab Khan played an innings that Lahore — and cricket — will talk about for decades. News Plus Globe will carry full coverage of the final.